After months of negotiations, L.A. Unified and the president of the teacher's union announced Tuesday that they have agreed on a school improvement plan that would give campuses wider freedoms to manage their budgets and place teacher — not to mention allow failing public schools to be taken over by charter organizations.

LA Unified School District spokesman Tom Waldman told the Associated Press that the Public School Choice program agreement would last 3 1/2 years.

The agreement is subject to a vote by the United Teachers Los Angeles membership, a multi-day process that will be complete by Dec. 12.

Waldman says a key point in the contract will give schools and districts more autonomy in staffing and hiring decisions.

The agreement includes nothing about whether to include student test scores in teacher evaluations, an issue that has vexed both sides for more than a year. The teacher's union president said he’d like to see union leaders and members approve the plan by the school board’s Dec. 13 meeting.

United Teachers of Los Angeles spokeswoman Marla Eby says the agreement gives struggling schools stability and an opportunity to improve without the stress of a looming outside takeover.

"We basically believe that parents, and students, and teachers have a relationship with their local school," said Superintendent John Deasy. "They know best what’s needed in the local school."